Most everyone recalls starting to eat potato chips, cookies and other such types of foods from a bag and discovering that the food is old, stale and not fresh due to the bag not being properly closed and sealed. This situation leaves the food less than tasty, and often, most of the food is not eaten and consequently the food is wasted.
It has long been recognized that a bag closure properly sealing such a bag would prevent this undesirable situation and avoid the wasting of food. Bag closures, both separate from the bag and integral therewith, are known in the prior art. For example, see the disclosures in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,854,717; 1,488,864; and 2,023,919. But bag closures of the prior art have not met with significant success as witnessed by the absence of such in most homes. In part at least, the reason for this lack of acceptance is that bag closures of the prior art have not been simple, inexpensive, and easy and convenient to use. For the most part, the contrary has been true. Specifically, bag closures of the prior art, especially of the attach-on type, have been large, bulky, difficult and inconvenient to handle and use, and have generally been viewed as too expensive to justify.
Incorporating closure means in an existing bag has been attempted in the past but often this incorporation complicates the design of the bag or container to the point that the total packaging is not desirable from a marketing point of view. Moreover, it is difficult to justify the incorporation of closure means into the actual bag since the closure means cannot be used time after time or be used in closing other bags. Further, it is difficult to design such a closure means integrally constructed within a bag at a cost that will not make the total packaging cost prohibited.
Therefore, there is a real need for a bag or closure device that is simple, easy and convenient to use, effective to create an air tight seal, and which can be utilized in conjunction with all types of bags and containers of the bag type, even bags or containers that are used to contain material or articles other than foods.